Eden Core
by Pardon Me Genderless-Crumpet
Summary: "You don't wear stupidity well," . How does one protect something they don't know they possess? Everything is not what it seems: Friends are Foes, Foes are Friends, who can he really trust? Yaoi, Yuri, Character Death, AR
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:**

This was my first ever written story. I wrote this years ago and only just recently found it again [with help from a friend of course]. I remember loving every minute of writing this story. It had terrible grammar, horrendous spelling, and a lot of holes in the plots. _**It was 45 chapters of pure awesomeness!**_ Anyway, I've decided to rewrite it [Keeping the same plot-line intact] and share with everyone on the net. I thought maybe since I found so much joy writing it, others would find joy in reading it. Please, if it's no inconvenience to you, drop a line on whether you like it or not.

Thanks in advance to reading my story.

**Summary: **They had more in common than they realized. Strange happenings begin when 3 friends encounter a strange medium. On their quest to save life as they know it, they encounter friends and foes alike. Can they bring to light a world unseen to save their own world? Or will they be dragged down by their own demons and forever be left in the dark?

**Warnings: **Character Death, Violence, Implied Rape, Drug Abuse, Sexual Themes, Yuri, Yaoi, Het, Language, Dark Humor.

**Eden Core**

**Chapter 00:**

_Tat-Tat_

The small glass vase was placed gently onto the shelf. The one who had sat it down took a step back and took a look at his handy work. The entirety of the wall – where he had placed the vase at – was filled with different types of glass vases. Some decorated with such painting styles; it was obvious they were not from the current century. The man dusted his hands and turned to survey the rest of the small shop. Across from where he stood, the wall was covered in masks of different sizes and styles. Some were obviously from different cultures while others were stylized in a more modern look, but still an antique nonetheless.

"So…tell me again, Kurama, why you named it _The Fox's Den_?" A voice drew his attention to the man – nearly sprawled – over one of the glass display cases that also served as the counter for the cash register. Inside the glass display case were dozens of small little trinkets – medallions, rings, necklaces, brooches, and pins – stylized in such a way, it was clear to see the trinkets were from – not only Japan – but many other countries – European, Asian, Russian and even western culture.

It was an antique shop.

"Do you really need to ask, Yusuke?" Kurama chuckled as he walked past where Yusuke was sprawled over to the backroom. "You all have nicknamed me Kurama, after the demon fox thief from ancient times," Kurama spoke. He reappeared from the back room holding a large book. "Youko was known for his fascination with odd trinkets and shiny objects – so he took them. Instead of hording them like he did, I'll share the joy and history of the hoard I myself and my mother have collected over the years-" He interrupted himself with a chuckle. "With others who also wish to collect such items,"

"Could have sworn it was because you keep that fox statue thing in the back room," Yusuke grumbled, standing up straight. "What's that?"

"It's something my mother had picked up while she traveled around Honshu," Kurama murmured as he wiped the dust off the front of the cover. He sat the book down on the counter as he continued to speak: "I never got a chance to actually open it and see what it was about.

"Are you gonna sell it? Where'd she get it from anyway?" Yusuke peered over at the book as Kurama opened it.

"She said she had acquired it from her visit to the Gifu-ken prefecture….the town of Takayama to be specific," Kurama glanced up at Yusuke who had hummed. "I'm not sure whether or not I should sell it,"

"So? What are we waiting for? Let's find out what it's about!" Yusuke exclaimed to which Kurama raised an eyebrow to.

"You? Excited to read? Wait until Keiko hears about this one," Kurama chuckled as Yusuke glared at him. He turned back towards the book to flip through it.

"What's all those weird words mean?" Yusuke grumbled. Kurama made a noise – a cross between a hum and a grunt – before he answered Yusuke's question.

"Seems to be a book about the separation of the 3 worlds," Kurama mumbled. Yusuke's eyebrow rose as he looked up from the book. He regarded Kurama with a confused expression.

"That's weird. 3 worlds, huh?" The chiming of a clock caught both of their attentions. "Geez, its 7 already?" Yusuke pushed away from the counter. "Keiko is gonna kill me! I was supposed to pick her up an hour ago!" Yusuke exclaimed, making his way towards the door. Kurama spoke up, which stopped Yusuke at the door.

"I'm sure she'll understand if you tell her you were just helping settle in," Yusuke turned to see Kurama smiling at him. Yusuke nodded.

"Yeah. I'm sure she'll forgive me _after _she chews my ear off," Yusuke mumbled. He did a short wave. "I'll see ya tomorrow, K'rama!"

"See you then, Yusuke," Kurama responded with a nod. He turned away from the door after he watched Yusuke leave. He made his way into the back room.

In this room, the walls were filled the books, and different odd trinkets that wouldn't or couldn't fit in the display in the front room. At the far wall, there sat a stand with a silver statue of a fox on it. A light bore down on the silver statue; the lamp's light illumination of the silver statue gave the statue itself an almost otherworldly glow to it. Besides the silver, the only other color on the statue was that of the red over the top of its eyes – which were just lines. The fox was in a sitting position – most similar to that of a Lucky Neko – with its mouth opened around a – what appeared to be – pendant in the shape of a fox's head. With the book in hand, Kurama sighed and made his way over to the chair next to the statue. He sat down and stared at the statue. "Yoko," he mumbled. Kurama took his attention away from the statue and opened the book to a chapter entitled: **Eden Core**

_/As he had told Yusuke, the book detailed about the separation of the three worlds: Spirit World, Demon World, and Human World. At one point in time, the two worlds, human and demon, co-existed as one; Humans, Demons, and Spirits alike; however, hatred spread between the humans and demons. The humans viewed the demons as threats, for many demons prayed on humans as food. The demons saw the humans as a nuisance and decided their existence should be enslaved to them or gone completely. The spirits, in a sense, acted as a medium of the two; keeping them from going into an all out war and destroying each other. Sensing the impending war, the god of the spirit realm decided on a split: humans in one world and demons in another. This proved to be a good arrangement at the time; however, as before, the hatred was still present. The humans feared that the demons would invade them and destroy them as they once tried before. Because of this, the humans sealed off any possible entrance from the demon world to the human world, making it impossible for even the more civilized demons to do much of any. _

_Trade between the two worlds instantly stopped because of the seal. The seal, not only having an effect on the entrance, also seemed to have an effect on the demon's powers. Their powers were sucked from them to power the seals themselves, creating a core seal that housed not only the power of the demons, but the power to all of the other seals. For this, the demons grew angry with the humans. They attempted to come up with a plan to destroy the seals but were only able to weaken them. Low level demons were able to enter the human world, where they wrecked havoc across the lands._

_The demons goals were to destroy the seal core, which the humans had named the __**Eden Core **__to gain back their powers. They were unable to do this, for the seal proved to be hidden away and kept with a single family. This family has never been named nor have they ever revealed themselves, in hopes that the less anyone knows about it, the safer the __**Eden Core **__would be._

_Still today, demons and demon spirits terrorize humans and their families in hopes of gaining information about the __**Eden Core:**__ where it is being hidden, how can they obtain it, and how they can utilize its strengths. Every -/_

Kurama closed the book and stared down at it. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "Yoko," He spoke again. He glanced at the fox statue with a frown. "Every one-thousand years, a keeper of the core is born," Kurama mumbled as he stood. "He is born to keep the core safe," He reached out and picked the statue up. "He lives to protect," Kurama walked out of the back room and re-entered the shop. "He will die protecting," Kurama flipped the light switch as he walked towards the door. Opening than closing the door as he left, he turned towards the door. Locking it, he began to speak again: "All for the sake of the human world," Kurama looked down at the ground. "What does this have to do with a statue? Has it already been one-thousand years since one has been born? So many questions… I can only hope I can find the answers," Kurama turned away from the shop and walked away. "Ones that won't kill me in the process," he uttered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:**

Before I start, I wanted to make something clear about the yen to dollar exchange. These are estimates

2.000.000,000 Yen (2 Million) =

20,274.000 USD (20 thousand)

14.956,000 EURO (14 thousand)

20.994,000 Canadian Dollar (20 thousand)

If there is a conversion you want to see during the stories, please ask, otherwise I will not convert and you'll have to do it yourself (which I wouldn't want anyone to go through all the trouble). So if there is any currency you want converted so you'll understand the prices that may come up, please don't hesitate to leave a review or PM me with the currency you would like to see converted.

**Current Glossary:**

**Bók misst von – **The Book of Lost Hope

**Eden Core**

**Chapter 01: **

_Bam!_

Yusuke jerked up and backwards with a yelp at the sudden loud sound near his head. He glared up at the cause of said sound which was a short brunet girl that had slammed a book on the table, returning his glare with a glare of her own. "Yusuke!" She exclaimed. "Stop falling asleep! This is why you're failing math!"

"How am I supposed to _not _fall asleep?" Yusuke exclaimed.

"This is important!" She huffed, crossing her arms as her glare intensified. "How do you think you'll become accomplished in life if you don't know math!"

"Oh!" Yusuke exclaimed suddenly. "I'm _so sorry! I _didn't know finding the circumference of the damn sun was important when trying to find out how much groceries would cost plus gas if you went this way at this speed! What the fuck – this doesn't even make any – how does that even _go _together?" Yusuke yelled again after looking over the worksheet in front of him. He looked back at the brunette, his glare intensifying. The girl seemed not to be affected at all as she rolled her eyes, Yusuke continuing on his rant: "And excuse me for not trying to figure out what degree a fucking triangle is so I can eat my breakfast in the morning! Or how tall a cone is so I can go to fucking work at a goddamn fast food place in a fucking city shaped like a fucking oval!"

"Are you quite done?" The brunette asked with another roll of her eyes.

"Yes," Yusuke sighed as he leaned back in the chair he was in. "Sorry Keiko, you know me," He grumbled. Indeed she did. They had been friends since they were in diapers. Yusuke had always been the type to over-exaggerate things – more so when he was awakened from his sleep to do something he dubbed as useless.

"You just have to understand I don't want you to fail," Keiko grumbled lowly with a pout. "If you fail, we definitely won't be in the same class next year!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Yusuke waved his hand dismissively to which Keiko glared at him again. "Now, how about we take a break – " _'A break from _what_' _Keiko cried to which Yusuke ignored and continued to speak: " – And go visit our favorite redhead at the _Fox's Den_!"

"Maybe he can figure out how to manage that sorry excuse for a brain you have," Keiko grumbled lowly. Yusuke glared at her.

"I heard that, midget!"

"I'M NOT A MIDGET!" she screeched to which Yusuke laughed at.

**x - x - x Line Break x - x - x**

Kurama let his hands fall down to that top of the ladder he was currently standing on. He had just finished replacing the light bulb that had went out. The bell signaling someone entering the shop made him turn slightly. He smiled at the sight of Yusuke and Keiko. "Hello there, you two," Kurama greeted.

"Hey!" They both said in unison as Kurama began to step down off the ladder.

"I haven't seen either of you in awhile," Kurama closed the ladder and began to drag it towards the back. Both Keiko and Yusuke followed him half way, stopping next to the glass display case that held also the register. Kurama reappeared from the back room with a smile.

"Yeah, we've been a bit busy with school. Mid-terms are coming up and finals are right around the corner!" Keiko sighed. She glared over at Yusuke. "And this blubbering idiot is doing horrible in math!"

"C'mon Keiko," Yusuke exclaimed. "It ain't my fault I don't find numbers _fascinating!_" Yusuke crossed his arms, mumbling under his breath.

"What was that last part?" Keiko placed her hands on her hips and glared up at Yusuke. Yusuke raised his hands in defense before crying out 'nothing'. Kurama chuckled, shaking his head at the two's antics.

"Have you tried associating the numbers and the problems with something you're more interested in?" Kurama asked. Both Keiko and Yusuke looked at him.

"We tried that! I gave him sports since he loves that but he always starts complaining in the end," Keiko glared at Yusuke who rolled his eyes up.

"What about video games?" They both looked at him in confusion. "Yusuke, you remember when you were telling me about that online game you were playing?" Yusuke nodded.

"Universe of Strategycraft," Yusuke said. "I finally got to level 85 on my Knight-Gale Goblin," Keiko gave him a look then looked at Kurama.

"What do videogames have to do with Yusuke's lack of math skills?" Keiko asked, crossing her arms. Kurama just smiled at her before disappearing into the back room again. Keiko looked up at Yusuke with a frown.

"How did you meet him again?" Keiko asked lowly. Yusuke scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.

"I kind of ran into him…literally," Yusuke chuckled as he recalled the memory.

***Flashback – 5 years earlier***

"Okay, so the rules are clear, right guys?" the blue haired boy standing atop the wall asked in a yell. Everyone standing below and sitting around him nodded. The blue haired boy turned to the boys standing in a line. They were all wearing rollerblades. Yusuke was standing at the far end of the boys. "So the route is all the way through the park, down the path to Omotesandō Avenue where you'll make a turn and go through Yoyogi Park, past the Sakura Keep and farther past Bon-Bon Café where we'll meet up at the Hiroba Plaza" The boy yelled. "And NO shortcuts, got that guys?"

"Yeah!" the boys exclaimed.

"Remember, if go out of route, you're automatically disqualified!"

"What if we run into someone?"

"Too bad for them! If you wanna keep in the race for that prize, I suggest you not run into anything," The boy snickered.

"On your mark," the boys in the line crouched down slightly. "Get set," They shot their hand out and behind them while their other crossed in front of their chest.

"I'm gonna win this," Yusuke looked to his side to see an orange haired boy grinning at him.

"Yeah right," Yusuke snorted. "You're gonna be eating my dust, Kuwabara!"

"Go!" The blue haired boy screeched. The skaters were off. Yusuke managed to get ahead of everyone has he flew down the path through the park. He zipped this way, zapped that way, getting screams and shouts thrown at him as he skated around people, through couples, and over children. He glanced backwards and grinned at the skaters who grew more distant as he continued to speed down the path.

Turning his attention back to the front, he crouched down low to avoid ramming smack into people carrying a table. "Why the hell are they lugging that around the park anyway?" Yusuke grumbled to himself as he came up to a sigh that read 'Omotesandō Avenue'. "I'm going to win this for sure!" Yusuke exclaimed as he cackled madly.

"Don't be too sure of yourself, Urameshi!" Yusuke whipped his head back, nearly losing his balance in the process, to see that same orange-headed kid gaining on him. "How the hell!" He growled and turned back ahead him, pushing himself to go faster. They were coming up on Yoyogi Park. Yusuke suddenly smirked. _'He didn't say I had to take the path,' _and with that thought, Yusuke flew through the park's grass.

"What the-!"

"Watch it kid-!"

Ignoring all the screeches and yells of the park's residents, Yusuke kept at a constant speed. He made his way out of the grass – to which was still confusing how he managed to keep going at the same constant speed through _grass_ – and on to the park's paved pathway as he saw the entrance/exit. His grin widened as he looked back, realizing he couldn't see Kuwabara or any of the other racers.

He gave another laugh as he passed the gates of the Sakura Keep. "This is totally a piece of cake,"

"Like I didn't see that coming!"

"What the-!" Yusuke whipped his head around to see that same orange haired kid. "How the hell did you catch up so fast?!"

"Ha! You - Urameshi, watch out!" Yusuke whipped his gaze back forward in time for him to ram right into someone – a chorus of crashes and shattering glass erupting around them as soon as he made impact. He slammed into the other hard making them both tumble and roll a few times in the dirt before they stopped, landing Yusuke on top of the other. Yusuke groaned as he picked himself up slightly.

"Oh my goodness, Shuichi!" A woman screamed. Yusuke looked down at the person he had rammed into to see him grimacing.

"Shit," Yusuke exclaimed. "I'm sorry,"

"Could you please get up, you're crushing my arms," The boy – now identified by his voice because Yusuke sure as hell thought it was a chick at first – wheezed. Yusuke managed to roll off the boy to his back where he stayed.

"Fucking hell that hurt…"

"I think me getting slammed into by a human-sized bullet might have been more painful than your landing….considering you landed on me," The boy grumbled lowly.

"Shuichi, are you okay?" Yusuke opened his eyes to see a woman standing over the redhead he'd rammed into.

"What the fuck are you made out of, that fucking hurt," Yusuke groaned.

"I believe it is called flesh and bone," the redhead grunted. "I'm fine, mother,"

"What about you, young man? That was quite a crash! Why were you going so fast and not watching where you were going?" Yusuke finally managed to sit up just as Kuwabara came skidding to a halt.

"Everyone alright?" He asked, directing most of his attention to Shuichi – the redhead on the ground – and the lady standing over him than he did to Yusuke.

"Fucking peachy," Yusuke scowled.

"I think I sprained my wrist," Shuichi mumbled, wincing as he tried to move his hand. "And maybe bruised a few other bones…." He grumbled the last part lowly, though Yusuke was able to catch it.

"Oh dear, the vases broke too," The redhead's mother sighed. "Well that's okay! Let's get you to the doctor's and make sure it's not really something serious," Yusuke looked up at them as the woman helped the redhead up. She frowned down at the glass shards surrounding them then turned her glare to Yusuke, who flinched. She huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Young man, you could have seriously hurt both yourself and my son! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Sorry?" Yusuke asked with a nervous laugh. She frowned and crossed her arms. "Look, I'll – uh… I'll pay for all the damages, kay? How much was all that…err like 1.000 yen right?" Her frown deepened.

"It was around 2.000.000 yen," She corrected. Yusuke's jaw dropped.

"Oh hell! I'm sorry! Fuck! I don't have that kinda money! I'm only 14! Oh god…fuck my mums gonna fucking kill me!"

"Watch your language, young man!" She snapped. She sighed a moment later, her shoulders slumping. Her son stood next to her with a small frown, holding his hurt wrist in his hand.

"Maybe he can work off his debt," Shuichi suggested.

"Yeah! I'll do that!" Yusuke shouted. He glanced at the long black haired woman still contemplating.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Yusuke Urameshi!"

"I'm Shiori Minamino," She said with a small smile. "This is my son, Shuichi Minamino," Shuichi nodded. "I guess we can work something out," She gave a sigh as she looked at the mess around them. "Those were pretty vases too," She looked up. "But I'm glad neither one of you were hurt seriously,"

***End Flashback***

"I would have had you arrested," Yusuke came back from his revere to glare at Keiko. She raised an eyebrow at him. "What? You murdered 2 million yen and trampled my son! I think you got off really easy!" Yusuke huffed and crossed his arms. The bell rung, signaling someone entering the shop making both Keiko and Yusuke turned to see who was there. The man who had entered was tall: dark raven hair contrasted deeply with the man's pale skin; narrow, dark cerulean blue eyes stared between Keiko and Yusuke. The man was wearing a long black trench coat with his hands deep in the pockets. Around his neck was a pendant of the yin-yang symbol – however instead of the plain white and black, the symbol was of a crow and dove wrapped around each other to simulate the symbol of balance.

"Welcome to the Fox's Den," Yusuke said with a short wave. "Err…The owner kinda disappeared somewhere in the back, but if you need any help, I can-"

"Hm," The man interrupted them with a low grunt as he made his way all the way into the shop.

"Okay," Yusuke grumbled lowly. Keiko frowned as she watched the man walk around the store. All of their attention was drawn to the backroom door as Kurama came back through it speaking.

"I couldn't find exactly what I was…" Kurama trailed off when he noticed the newcomer in the room. "Oh…hello there, welcome to the Fox's Den. Is there something specific you were looking for?"

"A book," the man responded. Kurama nodded and he turned to head towards the back. "Bók Misst Von," Kurama froze at the door. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder at the man with an unreadable expression.

"I don't have any books under that title, I'm sorry," Kurama said after awhile. Keiko and Yusuke exchanged looks.

"May I see your collection?" The man asked after a moment's pause.

"…Sure…right this way," Kurama said, opening the backroom door. As the man walked into the backroom, Kurama turned to look at Yusuke and Keiko with a smile. "Could you two run to the store for me?"

"Uh…" Yusuke glanced at the man through the door. He didn't really think it was a good idea to leave Kurama alone with this strange looking man. He gave him the creeps! Not only that, when he had asked for that Bok Ma- whatever he said, it had made Kurama freeze up. Yusuke suddenly got the sinking feeling something terrible was about to happen. He frowned at Kurama. "Why don't you go get it, Keiko? You need the exercise!"

"Hey!" Keiko exclaimed loudly. "If I'm going, you're going too!" she turned to look at Kurama with a smile. "What did you need?" Kurama dug in his wallet and produced two 100-yen notes, three 100-yen coins and two 50-yen coins.

"I'm rather parched, could you run and get me a soda? This is enough for you two to also buy you a soda and maybe a snack?" He smiled again. Keiko nodded as she was handed the money.

"Will do!" She saluted to the older and grabbed Yusuke's arm. "We'll be back in a jiffy!"

Kurama chuckled as she dragged the taller teen out of store – said teen complaining the whole way. Kurama turned his attention back to the man in the backroom. His eyes darkened as he stepped into the room and closed the door.


End file.
